Look long into the abyss and the abyss looks into you.

In all three of his books author Gavin de Becker, who runs the world only risk assessment and management firm, tells the same story; whenever he finishes a lecture on how to be safe and survive in the world by listening to your instincts, he opens up the forum and takes questions from the audience. He is always asked one question. It doesn’t matter what socioeconomic group he is speaking to, it doesn’t matter if he is in a city or an affluent suburb, the question is always asked - it takes a few forms, “what can I do to stay safe?” what plans can I make to reassure myself that I will be OK?” “ how can I reduce my stress, fear, and anxiety?” the answer, according to de Becker, is simple, “don’t watch the news.” Most people respond with a blank stare - think for a moment then rephrase the question in a kind of, “no seriously how can I feel more empowered,” manner. de Becker explains that our addiction to news feeds our feelings of dread, anxiety, and helplessness, and that’s the point.

de Becker’s book “Fear Less” contains a chapter on how to “decode” the news, what phrases like, “developing story,” or, “an insider tells us,” really mean. de Becker is honest in his feelings about the news. They, or it, do more harm than good. What service is preformed when your local news station “breaks” the news that the largest and most modern medical facility in you area isn’t equipped to deal with casualties from a biological weapons attack? It’s that odd, a local hospital can’t handle the predicted thousands afflicted with hemorrhagic fever, anthrax, or plague? Is that really a news story or is it a construct meant to A) fill up air time and B) keep those watching at a heightened state of alertness and anxiety? It’s easy to think the word conspiracy is going to come next but it isn’t, it’s business. The news needs to seem indispensable they need to appear to be dragging stories into light to reveal some hidden truth. That a hospital isn’t equipped for bio warfare isn’t news - it’s obvious, yet we all spend hours sucking off Fox, MSNBC, CNN, or the BBC, looking for the latest “news” such as the example just given.

It’s true that we can’t put our heads in the sand, even de Becker agrees that people should be well informed, but one should be choosy in how much news they get (he suggest no more than an hour a day) and from which source we get it. One can watch Keith Olberman rail against “the worst person in the world,” or Glenn Beck prophesying from his “doom bunker,” it probably doesn’t matter all that much.

Serious journalism, if it isn’t already dead is being read its last rights, so why are we all so hooked on the news? I have been accused of being Luddite (which is partially true, I'm really a neo-luddite) but I personally don’t feel the need to be plugged in. With all the ways we can have the news presented to us, via, print, email blast, on line, pod cast, you name it, is it our need to feel part of the new technology? Or is it our need to feel that things aren’t worth doing because the world is going to hell anyway?

I’m asking this because I was at my parent’s house - the house I grew up in - for a week, and all my father does is read multiple news papers (that is if the New York Post can be included in that category) and then watch The Situation Room: With Wolf Blitzer on CNN. CNN is OK they have more time to devote to analysis and because they are 24 hours don’t need to rely on sensationalism as much. But The Situation Room is like two solid hours of “a developing story, and “insiders tell us.” It’s maddening, it’s exhausting, it’s like eating a bag of chips, your need to be full has been met but you didn’t get any nourishment out of it. You will need to go back for more because maybe that “developing story” about a coolant leak in a factory on Saipan could effect your morning commute. Or that a tribal war in Zaire is flaring up and will have “international repercussions.”

There is a Chinese curse, “may you live in interesting times,” and I think right now in the 21st century we live in interesting times. There are many unknowns. Much is changing and much more is poised to change. Political ideas and ideals that are 30 years old and dug in like the Western Front are being challenged by the need for action, the need to adapt. Control, a feeling central to our lives, feels like it is slipping away from us and into a control sucking hope crushing black hole. We feel like we are trying to climb a greased pole toward the unattainable goal of security, happiness, and control.

Or are we? Hypothetically speaking if civilization was at 994 and the best we could do was 1,000 the news, pundits, advocates, talking heads, spin doctors, and reporters of all kind would say that civilization is speeding into a new Dark Age, something will always be wrong. How often does one come away from the news feeling good? Now and then I’m sure but not all that often. Reality is that times are hard. People are loosing their jobs and their homes. But how many ways do we sit and take that in? How many hours of reading and viewing will alter that fact, or help us deal with it?

I sat reading headlines and scanning stories this morning. The more I read the more helpless I felt, the less control I felt I had. I started to worry about that factory on Saipan and thought about what kind of world was my daughter going to inherit? Since 1945 humanity despite all our pettiness, our stupidity, and our vindictiveness, has managed to avoid riding the nuclear night train to the big adios. That gives me some hope, not a lot but enough. Yet, as I sat reading and watching clips from “Morning Joe” and “Rachel Maddow” I realized something, I was doing this to myself. My feelings about the world; and I mean the whole world from South Africa to The Islamic Republic of Iran, doesn’t matter. I have opinions yes (far to many opinions for some people) but I have no control over what happens, I only have control over how much and how often I chose to open the door and descend the stairs into the “doom bunker.”

Reading the news still depresses me. I don’t avoid it but I do my best to limit what I see and hear. Honestly much of what humanity inflicts upon itself makes me sick. Seeing the privations and needless suffering of countless millions is a downer no two ways about it; but my real concern today was the rain. How fast would the bus come? Would my daughter stay dry while we waited? I put our rain coats on, grabbed and umbrella, and off we went prepared the best way I knew how to face an uncertain world.